Why Can’t You Watch Anime Movies At A Theater Near You?

Movies like Your Name, A Silent Voice and In This Corner of the World are getting appreciated globally, Yet these anime movies still don’t get normal wide theatrical releases outside of Japan.

I mean, one could think that releasing movies globally means Studio makes more money but that isn’t the case. If they could really get more money out of it, you could see them releasing movies worldwide without any hiccups.

Not everyone watches anime, while it might seem that a huge number of people watch anime but in reality, a very few number of people watch or are open to watching anime. Like honestly, I don’t even think that many people even know what anime actually is.

When it comes to anime, different people have different tastes. I mean some are into shounen and some into drama but not everybody likes all kinds of anime so this makes it hard to target the movie when releasing globally.

Let’s get this straight, releasing any movie ain’ cheap. In order for a theater chain to pick up a movie, people must be willing to watch that movie and getting people excited requires marketing. To be real, marketing isn’t all that cheap and for a major studio release the millions of dollars that would be required, that kind of money can fund a television series. It’s not that studios don’t have that kind of movie but from a business standpoint, the investment isn’t all that fruitful.

Can’t we treat anime movies like regular animated movies? Which in fact are doing great at the box-office. Well, it all boils down to the general essence of these movies. Almost all the animated movies may that be from Disney or Pixar any major animation studio are targetted towards a slightly younger audience. While anime movies usually target teenagers and adults. In that age group, people usually don’t take animation seriously. I know Sausage Party did a great business last year but cmon it was Seth Rogan movie, it was destined for greatness.

You see, anime is a niche even in Japan, let alone Anime Movies. So it is very risky to invest money in marketing anime movies because even after spending millions of dollars in marketing if nobody shows up to the theaters then that’s a waste. It’s a big gamble, even gamblers review betting sites these days because come on nobody wants to lose money.

I would love to watch an anime movie like A Silent Voice in a theater but I know that’s not gonna happen. The medium may still not be widely accepted but that actually might be a good thing as that gives more creative freedom to tell distinctly amazing stories.